Friday, April 23, 2010

April 23 - T

Taking a leaf out of someones book 'To adopt an idea or practice of another person'

Like lots of women when we get together my friends and I chat about putting the world to right then go on to talk about trivial things; so recently when some friends and I were chattering one laughed about taking 2 flat sheets from the cupboard instead of 1 flat and 1 fitted.

We then spoke about when there were only flat sheets; a fitted bottom sheet was a luxury or something you fiddled around with trying to make for yourself from your flat ones. Of course they now are a way of life, no more trying to do neat hospital corners and having all the bedding fall out as you pushed it under the mattress along the sides.

Not sure if it was laziness on her part or we didn’t have that many sheets but in our house Mum only changed the bottom one, putting the top one on the bottom, making sure the part that had been at the top was also at the top and not down the bottom of the bed. Even tho it was underneath you on the bottom with pillows on top of it you didn’t want the cheesy feet part near you face for the next week. lol

Then when they started to wear thin in the middle the sheets were given a new lease on life by being sewn sides to middle so there were almost like new pieces in the middle but if they were sewn on a machine that wasn’t crash hot (like my mothers was) there was also a big ridge down the middle meaning you slept on one side or the other but never directly in the middle of the bed.

The other weekend I wanted something to tie up a plant so tore a strip off some old sheeting we have in the garage. Looking at it and remembering which daughter used to have it on her bed made me think about how old it actually was and then I noticed it had been sewn ‘sides to the middle’.

So did my Mum pass down to me her frugal habits or did I consciously 'Take a leaf out of her book' and copy her at the time when the kids were little and somehow or another I had to make things last a lot longer?